The Largest Cities Throughout History: Every Year

The history of the world's largest cities from 3000 BCE to modern times.
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Notes on data:
1) Pre-modern estimates are highly uncertain
2) Figures are based on urban area, not official
city limits or metro area
3) My own estimation was used to keep data
consistent and reasonable.
4) Cities that only appear briefly are not shown
Historical coastlines are omitted
5) Cities in the ranking panel are given their modern
(not historical) country affiliation. These are
denoted by their three-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
code
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Join my Discord: / discord
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Original Map:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...
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Music:
Hysics - Strangers Among Us
Hysics - Dimensions
Hysics - Rocket Science

[@OllieBye]

Thanks for waiting for this one - I didn't realise how long it would take to finish. The next video will be a normal region video, so hopefully won't take as long! UPDATE 1 : If anyone wants to view the data for this project, you can find it here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13O3IxKSM2VYzAhGA1y206_Pjk6_65syvXZ4O8UQHOew/edit#gid=947955792 (There are multiple tabs) UPDATE 2: A small error - Taxila is actually in modern Pakistan, not India.

[@Oldaccount46282]

Love your videos 🌹

[@andrefarfan4372]

Ok

[@micahistory]

definitely worth the wait

[@victornunes9845]

Quality over quantity. Amazing as always.

[@Retotion]

You sure your sources are correct when it comes to Rome, I had though most historians agreed ancient Rome exceeded a population of 1 million at its peak

[@mrsarcasm6885]

Its crazy how Baghdad had 1m population in 860's , and the next city to reach that mark was Beijing in 1800's after nearly a thousand year

[@alcabone1126]

Rome might have had 1 million around the 200's

[@galbatorix060]

Yeah he didn't put rome that was actually the first city in Human history to reach 1M

[@maxscania]

@@alcabone1126 Modelski and Morris say so, but Chandler disagreed... same case of keifeng and chang'an, but all 3 agreed on Baghdad to be the first one to superpass 1m.

[@ali.bukhari04]

It also makes a person wonder what kind of a powerhouse Baghdad and what it would be today had the mongols not destroyed and pillaged the city particularly The House of Wisdom(Library).

[@victorvelie3980]

@@ali.bukhari04 Sadly I think somebody else would have sacked it at some point, the middle east is in a bad spot for wars

[@jaichind]

I like how this video took into account Black Death in 1346, sack of Vijayanagara in 1565, and two separate sacks of Beijing in 1644. Many other videos just smooth over the data to fit a curve.

[@Courdelion]

The sack of Vijayanagar was very sad

[@alashiya9536]

Completely skipped over Justinian's plague though

[@kingk4916]

6:39 hampi ( vijayanagara or bijayanagara). No 1 richest city in the world . They gold and dimonds sell like vegetables in the market ... Our rome is nothing infront hampi (vijayanagara) i dont have words to describe beauty of hampi( vijayanagara..) ------ demengo pegus( protuguese tarveler).. I dont see this type richest vijayanagara city in past ..in future also i dont know see this type city . -------------- Abdul razak (persian tarveler)...

[@sinoroman]

1644 was just bad timing. if people don't know, look into it

[@OllieBye]

@@alashiya9536 Actually I didn't, you can see many Eastern Roman cities get smaller on the map in 541 CE.

[@FlashPointHx]

This is mesmerizing, beautifully portrayed, and thought provoking. Thank you for posting this! Fascinating!!

[@kingswordsc]

Mourning for the Indian civilization, the western colonists committed genocide against the Native Americans.

[@alldaydreamaboutfuck]

lol, indian&chinese figure should be at least 3-4 times

[@theriam6281]

Tue sack of Vijayanagara was probably the saddest phase in the urban history of India. That was a city beyond comparision.

[@agayactornamedmichaeldougl6289]

Ive heard its downfall had more to do with natural phenomena, alternating years of drought and flooding which even modern enginerrs would have had trouble with, ultimately leaving it unliveable.

[@Tgungen]

Starting at 5:55 , look at the middle east and central Asia, you can actually see the cities that got destroyed during the Mongol Invasions.

[@ECD007]

Así es los mongoles eran muy potentes de hecho déjame decirte que yo he visitado 6 cuidades y vivo en 1 la cdmx Eh visitado Tokio Beijing Moscú Nueva York Sao Paulo París y de todas las que tiene un tráfico más feo en Nueva York y La CDMX en mi perspectiva han sido los países con mayor tráfico del mundo

[@abiez4018]

it's not destroyed it's also happening in other cities it's just a transition idk if that whas intended or not

[@ali.bukhari04]

@@abiez4018 read history. Mongols pillaged most(most not all) of the cities they captured.

[@abiez4018]

​@@ali.bukhari04 I know lol but you're out of context we're talking about this video wether its untentional or not that the city dissapear in the video

[@scarymonster5541]

@@Thelaretus and the black death are mongol invasion

[@micahistory]

Here's a rough guide for you guys in the last 2000 years 1 to 271: Alexandria 271 to 350: Rome 350 to 500: Constantinople 500 to 644: Ctesiphon 644 to 794: Chang'an 794 to 963: Baghdad 963 to 973: Constantinople 973 to 983: Cordoba 983 to 1141: Bian 1141 to 1199: Constantinople 1199 to 1279: Lin'an 1279 to 1316: Hangzhou 1316 to 1379: Cairo 1379 to 1393: Vijayanagara 1393 to 1425: Yingtian/Nanjing 1425 to 1441: Vijayanagara 1441 to 1613: Beijing 1613 to 1678: Constantinople 1678 to 1720: Dhaka 1720 to 1826: Beijing 1826 to 1918: London 1918 to 1954: New York City 1954 to : Tokyo

[@grillm4ster]

It's interesting how Constantinople kept coming back on top over so many centuries, I think Istanbul is still Europe's biggest city

[@nerobernardino88]

@@grillm4ster Constantinople*

[@serhad8289]

@@nerobernardino88 Not anymore

[@ObjectsInMotion]

@@nerobernardino88 hey it’s nobody’s business but the turks

[@jaichind]

Note. Lin'an (1199 to 1279) and Hangzhou (1279 to 1316) are the same city. Lin'an the name when the city was controlled by the Southern Sung dynasty and Hangzhou the name when the city passed over to the Yuan dynasty.

[@muntyal-bazaz2663]

As an Iraqi I’m proud that I am an Iraqi. People sadly have forgotten just how important we are to human civilisation over the centuries and millenniums that people have been living and venturing for. Baghdad is one of the most important cities in human history, truly a piece of art. My Iraq is a piece of art❤️

[@erdniealinik]

Iraq is occupied by arabs at the moment and unless you are one of the minority from old times nothing you say is true

[@iQLQ]

🇸🇦🇮🇶 سيرجع العراق عظيماً بأذن الله وديمشق وكل البلدان الاسلاميه والعربية الايمان بالله والتفاول بالخير لنجده ان شاء الله

[@ArabianQuirkSA]

😂😂😂. It’s Arabic history 🇸🇦🇸🇦

[@ArabianQuirkSA]

It’s Arabic history 🇸🇦🇸🇦

[@erdniealinik]

@@ArabianQuirkSA the only arabic history im told is people burying their newborn child in sand because its a girl. You guys are so awful that all 4-5 known prophets lived around your area and it took all 5 of them to finally make you behave. Nice history you got there

[@keltdevangel1]

This video is a true masterpiece! The music, the effects, the colours, the extreme precision, the attention to details... Congratulations!

[@ericmw-]

The Plague of Justinian really stands out!

[@teemum.9023]

Yet it is just about hygiene. I bet soap would have helped

[@gingahbeef2604]

I legit learned about that because of this video. Constantinople just plummeted and I was like, wtf happened in 541?!

[@ekesandras1481]

Its called the Justinian Plague, not the Plague of Justinian. It was not his, it just happend in the time of his rule.

[@jared_bowden]

I'm genuinely surprised by how often ancient major cities would just slide off the list. Would be interesting (though probably pretty sad) to go through this video and list off all the causes: something tells me its not that the people just decided country life was better and left...

[@gergelylaszlo5463]

:trollface:

[@lunais1433]

Usually it's because of war. Also pandemics and natural disasters, but typically war. (Note: That does not mean all the inhabitants died, they just moved away.)

[@Quickshot0]

Also some times climate changes or landscape changes. Eridu and Uruk used to be much closer to rivers or the coast, but over time the river filled the Persian gulf in further and further and eventually they just ended abandoned in what was now desert.

[@meilinchan7314]

China is a good example of this happening. You often get Chang'an and Luoyang duking it out with each other only to end up being wiped off the map - for a few years at a stretch. Then fast forward to the end of the Middle Ages, and it's Lin'an/Beijing. As Lunais mentioned, usually it's because of war but we also know too that there are industrial, commercial and also administrative factors - truel, Chang'an got toasted at the end of the Tang dynasty, but it would still exist in some form or the other -- namely, Xi'an today. I could go on into reasons why Beijing took over in China but as vast numbers of other commentators mention here - it would take a single video or two just to explicate.

[@lunais1433]

@@meilinchan7314 Right, changing capitals and similar administrative changes were a key reason as well. Prosperous cities usually reflect the prosperity of their respective polities.

[@Dev--Chauhan435]

The Rise and fall of Patliputra ~ [1:40] Patliputra was the second biggest city in the world in 300 BC, because it was the capital of the great Mauryan Empire, which unified the Indian subcontinent for the very first time. But after the decline of the Maurya Empire, the city also fell. [3:12] Again in the 4th century AD, Patliputra became the third biggest city in the world, being the capital of the great Gupta Empire, during India's golden age. But as the Gupta Empire declined in the 4th century, the city again collapsed never to rise again.

[@KingSaheb0079]

Very nice video but I think it would’ve been better if you had a prompt noting major historical events as they happened so we could see how they might’ve effected population centres. For example: - Silk Road established - Mongols invade - Huns reach Europe - Alexander begins conquests - WW1 Etc

[@TheDragonHistorian]

Last time I was this early, Uruk was the largest city in the world

[@sanexpreso2944]

You could make the history of Peru

[@kingk4916]

Uruk was our fisrt city.. of dravidans (south indias) 90% dravidan cites has uru word . We countinue this today 2021 also.. We call city has uru.... Today south india main cites derived from uruk uru.. Ex: bengaluru = bendakal + uru Mysuru =. Mahisa + uru Mangaluru = magalu + uru

[@billalzerouali2528]

@@kingk4916 I though it's in irag the bid says it

[@ILoveNigga]

@@kingk4916 Indian try to claim something even it's not Indian be like:

[@kingk4916]

@@ILoveNigga what not indian. ?? Read the histroy of south indians..they are come from africa today iraq.. And meaning of uruk and south india languages city word name uru. Same meaning... More than 50% sumerian worlds equal to south india languages..

[@saifauditore702]

It is sad most people associate Iraq with War, but it is quite simply one of the most important place in Human history, alongside Iran. Not just for its history but for its contribution to civilisation eversince from the age of Samarra Culture to the Islamic Golden Age. Unfortunately after the Mongol invasion, the entire country has never recovered for almost a millennium. It is the home of Uruk (Iraq) first city in history, Akkad, the first empire in history and the birthplace of Abraham - father of both Arabs & Jews and one of the most important people in history

[@lunais1433]

Most people don't know long-term history. Their knowledge of the world (as a whole, not just specific regions) only extends to the past 100 years or so.

[@SarudeDanstorm]

... Are you considering Iraq to be the same government and state since the rise of civilization? People associate Iraq with the current state and its series of dictators and government changes. People associate Mesopotamia being the most important place in human history.

[@zacharymogel9500]

@@lunais1433 that’s why they think Germany is still nazi, or that Japan was always anime land

[@lunais1433]

@@zacharymogel9500 Or that the Middle East was always turbulent. In a sense that is true, but that disregards the roughly 300 years of peace under the Ottoman Empire prior to the rise of nationalist movements. The present situation only arose after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, and particularly after WWII. Or they think European/Western civilization was always dominant and now, with the rise of China and India, it's in decline. European civilization only rose to prominence during the early modern period, particularly after the Industrial Revolution. Prior to that, China and India (as regions) were almost always more developed.

[@songcramp66]

​@@lunais1433 Well, don't forget Rome was comparable to China during its heyday and before that Greece was in many ways far ahead of everyone else. Anyways, because Europe was relatively insignificant during the Middle Ages, especially the early part, it is that much more astounding how Western Europeans shot so far ahead of everyone and for a brief period of time practically ruled the entire world.

[@sofiaruschel]

The 5 largest cities in the world in 2022 1°Tokyo 🇯🇵 2°New Delhi 🇮🇳 3°Shangai 🇨🇳 4°São Paulo 🇧🇷 5°Mexico City 🇲🇽

[@APAG]

just incredible... love your work :)

[@mustavogaia2655]

Video suggestion: The most viewed videos from Ollie Bye Throughout History: Every Month

[@user-yi1zy9st2c]

Lol its a not bad idea!

[@Anwoo]

More like everyday?

[@TheDrumstickEmpire]

Every week/every 3 days sorta timescale would prolly be better

[@TheDrumstickEmpire]

Every month would be like a 2 minute video lmao

[@user-es3dr5xk8f]

Useless shit

[@WallNutBreaker524]

I can fully see the effort put into making this video , well done , congrats 👏😊

[@amarkataria3763]

Absolutely brilliant work

[@piesause1376]

Shout out to Angkor and Bagan, the forgotten great cities of medieval Southeast Asia.

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

And Ayutthaya.

[@yinyinaye6045]

Bagan: the city of ten thousand temples

[@anixes]

@@Urlocallordandsavior the real Ayodhya is in India. Thai ppl literally copied the name and even the title.

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

@@anixes Nationalism bullcrap really.

[@anirudh177]

@@Urlocallordandsavior well, Ayodhya is a real city in India, and Ayutthaya is named after the city of Ayodhya in India (because SE Asia was pretty Indian influenced and Ayodhya is the birthplace of Ram, an important figure in the Ramayana), but I don't get why @Animesh is so pissy about it. Apparently by his standards adopting anything, or borrowing ideas and knowledge is copying/stealing.

[@historyrhymes1701]

The GOAT of mapping is back!

[@micahistory]

indeed. Also hi

[@historyrhymes1701]

Hello Micah!

[@Courdelion]

It's true that Preslav reached more than 50 thousand inhabitants in the 10th century?

[@historyrhymes1701]

@@Courdelion I am no sure but I doubt it. Preslav was a major city for only about a century. In comparison Tarnovo which served as a capital for over 2 centuries reached about 20 000 inhabitants at it's peak.

[@luisaguilar4377]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYHZh4N9d7WImc0

[@riowhi7]

It's crazy how cities like Uruk lasted for essentially 2,500 years (~3000 to 700 bc), which is about the same lifetime of Rome. Except by the time Rome was founded in 753 bce Uruk was already in it's final, final stages.

[@user-wy8bo1ys9b]

I am from ur and its located in dhi qar you can search it on google maps, im a Sumerian we are the origin 🇮🇶

[@lialos]

Now THAT was a worthwhile journey through time. A couple times you changed the scale too much, and pushed too many cities off the map, but overall, this was fun.

[@h3lblad3]

If I had to make any changes to his video, I'd love for it to point out specific things happening and when (the Black Plague, Mongol sacking of Baghdad, etc.). Also would like to see the country names accurately reflect the countries that hold them rather than modern day countries, though I understand that would be much more difficult the further back you go. At some point countries as we know them didn't exactly even exist.

[@inspectorhound7931]

@@h3lblad3 That and I found that playing this at .75 speed helped.

[@OnionChoppingNinja]

Amazing. Even on a map that doesn't show borders changing the influence of the Mongols can be seen (notice how several cities in the middle east and China just vanish over night around 1200ish)

[@Doai55]

@Shimmy Shai barbaric acts from the Mongols

[@Ali-vx9ix]

And the black death

[@micha2909]

The real First World War.

[@kingswordsc]

Mourning for the Indian civilization in America, the western colonists committed genocide against the Native Americans.

[@tsingchan6794]

Because the war and local separatism made it impossible for the central government to count the population.

[@armandom.s.1844]

It would be cool to see the largest empires throughout History every year, just as a idea

[@firstlast-pq1tx]

You can just watch the "history of the world" videos, it pretty easy to see which ones were the biggest every century

[@morphingninja]

by population size rather than just the map, and later including colonies/protectorates.

[@mightycannon1512]

Europe would really come in the list around roman times and colonial era (except russia) so I cant wonder which countries will be in-between these two places

[@Alex-lg9zb]

@@mightycannon1512 Mongols, numerous Caliphates, Tang dynasty. That's just a few, all sorts my friend.

[@dariusbrock2351]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting this!

[@jordi6795]

Fascinating! It's interesting how several cities in the Middle East and Asia became so populated in the past, and the ones in America as well, and the exponential growth of the main western cities at the end of the video, I already saw a similar representation in other economics related videos and human rights development. Really fascinating the humankind history.

[@anitathakur9340]

Middle east is still in asia

[@KingKharibda]

@@anitathakur9340 east asia.

[@tataristurkicscythian6982]

​@@anitathakur9340 Yes, Asia is not only China, Japan!West Asia is also in Asia!

[@superboy3633]

From Middle East to Japan and from Sri Lanka to Siberia all countries lies in The Asia.

[@jordi6795]

Correct @@superboy3633

[@micahistory]

Wow ollie this was just incredible, I've seen other videos like this but this is by far the best!

[@micahistory]

It's so interesting to see which cities rose and fell, often being a sign of the ruse and fall of the empires they were in

[@alldaydreamaboutfuck]

lol, indian&chinese figure should be at least 3-4 times

[@indiafirst3676]

Mohen jo Daro, Takshashila, Pataliputra, Vaishali, Kannauj, Kalyani, Thanjavur, Vijayanagara, Agra, Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳

[@hodam9687]

Mohenjo-Daro, Taxila, Gandhara, Harappa, Mehrgarh all located in Pakistan home to oldest civillizations of the world 🇵🇰♥️

[@indiafirst3676]

@@hodam9687 Gandhara is in Afghanistan but the history is associated with the Indian Civilization. Indus Valley Civilization was an Indian Dravidian Civilization. Proto-Dravidian languages were spoken by IVC. Dravidian people currently reside in South India today. Pakistan hasn't much to di with IVC.

[@hodam9687]

@@indiafirst3676 its is literally located on Pakistan u fool it is is only related to Pakistan and Its people thats it. You indians are the ones who have nothing to do with it

[@RealPlatoishere]

@@hodam9687 Pakistan no existence before 1947 🤡...Baap se paida hua beta

[@hodam9687]

@@RealPlatoishere The country of india formed in 1947. Before 1947 every state of India was its own independent ethnic kingdom country and nation. You had no ownership over Pakistan. Pakistan’s provinces Punjab, sindh, Balochistan, KPK all have existed has independent ethnic empires and nations all throughout history before joining together to create Pakistan. Indus valley civillization is only native to Punjab and Sindh and is Punjabi and Sindhi history nothing to do with you endians. Taxilla and gandhara is native to KPK and is history of the pashtuns again nothing to do with you endians. So Stop being delusional.

[@finnikanskywalker2767]

Thank you for this incredible Video ! Can you make the same with countrys ?

[@frenchballmapper]

One of the best videos I have seen on this channel! Well done !

[@switzerlandmapper1825]

You're here lol

[@WarDestinyMapping]

Finally!! Thanks for this info, I always thought New Delhi or Shanghai was the first, but Tokyo. Very nice work

[@sorayacatfriend]

Both are projected to overtake Tokyo by 2050.

[@user-mu1xk9pe8l]

I saw something very interesting. Thank you!

[@TheFadZero]

I love how buenos aires was one of the largest cities but its completely hidden by the graph at the bottom.

[@unilajamuha91]

Might've missed some in Antarctica as well

[@tiget8627]

To anyone that might have been confused at what happened at 5:40 Bian (The capital of the Northern Song Dynasty of China) fell to the Jin Dynasty, a lot of people fled to the south, a few years later, the Southern Song Dynasty was founded and Lin’An was its capital

[@Ankit-si4sh]

Thank you I was trying to find answers for same.

[@michaelly7163]

​@@krichenboiBian is the historical official short name of Kaifeng and Lin'An is the historical name of Hangzhou

[@MiaMiao0_0]

@@krichenboi I guess it’s because they kind of used different names in the same time( like if you asked people in modern China where is Chang’an, a lot of people would still understand you

[@elderidgechebahtah8100]

as a Chinese, where is bian? north song's capital is dongjing/kaifeng

[@yilinchang7832]

@@elderidgechebahtah8100Bian means 汴 or 汴京 which is the name Kaifeng used during Song Dynasty. You need to go back to high school to retake some history course 😂

[@akatsukicruzado]

Great job!

[@tylerhofer2760]

This is really well made and very interesting

[@Walid-gm2ns]

5:56 I can't believe that my city FEZ 🇲🇦 was the third largest city in the world one day!

[@billalzerouali4436]

It was the first in some where in 13th century

[@iraqimapper1595]

Because it was far away from the mongols lol

[@Walid-gm2ns]

@@iraqimapper1595 Yeah probably we were lucky

[@elbouhdidizakaria5250]

@@iraqimapper1595 Fez at that time ruled North Africa and Al Andalus.

[@sami3566]

@@elbouhdidizakaria5250 Fez(in Morocco) reached it peak under the Marinid who didn't rule any terrirory outside Morocco

[@DavidWillisSLS]

8:29 it’s so surreal seeing Constantinople and New York at the same time

[@BamberdittoPingpong]

The ancient and the modern world truly is connected in a chain.

[@trikebeatstrexnodiff]

@@Thelaretus "ultra-nationalist" 💀 Istanbul is also of Greek origin if you didnt know you smartass

[@subifyouhatetiktokandreddit234]

@@trikebeatstrexnodiff *Constantinople. Istanbul only started when Ottomans arrived

[@trikebeatstrexnodiff]

@@subifyouhatetiktokandreddit234 what a false information you have; the Ottomans used the term "konstantiniyye" then it became Istanbul AFTER the Ottoman Empire; tho Istanbul is greek too, so it shouldnt hurt anyone's someplaces if you really care about the origin of the city names; im so happy the turks dont cry "no it is not x it should be named y as we named it" to the places in China and Russia unlike you people always cry, of which the places have now Chinese and Russian names in the past those were Turkic; but you cant see any turk crying "nooooo dont use Xinjiang it is Yengi Yezik" etc

[@luisaguilar4377]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYHZh4N9d7WImc0

[@lunais1433]

Poor Buenos Aires made it on the list, but didn't make it on the map...

[@hieverybody4246]

This channel is simply fascinating!

[@ever-is-a-taco-salad]

i remember watching this when i was very young, and i really liked it, and this teached me alot of things are a child, so thank you for making thiis wonderful content.

[@slym741]

Baghdad reaches 1.1M in 900CE (4:54). The next city to reach 1.1M was Beijing in 1800CE (8:00). Nobody matched Baghdad for 900 years. It was truly a peak of civilisation.

[@gery8218]

Rome did in fact reach a population of one million. The video got it wrong.

[@slym741]

@@gery8218 That was before 900CE, i’m referring to the time after that.

[@mrsarcasm6885]

@@gery8218 nope this video is far more accurate than those potato numbers , rome never had a million people

[@g-rexsaurus794]

@@mrsarcasm6885 And Baghdad did? What's the archeological evidence of that?

[@murtadhaalkenani3876]

@@g-rexsaurus794 Basically Rome was a thousand years older than baghdad , that means higher death rates due to undiscovered cures , famine and massacres due to constant berber raids , recruiting people for the expeditions.

[@corneliussmiff2773]

London went bonkers in the late 19th century. I don't even want to imagine how uncomfortable that must have been living there.

[@vaiyt]

You don't need to. There's plenty of books, studies and first-hand accounts of it.

[@alessandrolanza]

I found similar maps online various times but never did they have so little population in imperial era's Rome. The estimates are of about 1 million people before the plague and the crisis of the third century so those numbers seem pretty low

[@OllieBye]

It's a complex issue. I've explained it to several other comments on this video already.

[@ihrfer]

​@@OllieBye Maybe this is too late to comment, but I actually feel that your peak with a little over 400 000 is very optimistic. McEvedy's "Cities of the Classical World" only gives 283 000 as highest estimate for Rome in antiquity. Admittedly, he always goes with conservative estimates (but I find these the most plausible). Regarding the OP (as I did not read all the other comments): Under Augustus you had 200 000 recipients of wheat rations, so the 200 000 for 1 CE is a reasonable number.

[@giovluccarbone4720]

@@ihrfer Actually the estimates of at least one million of people are true. The city of Rome had a population density even bigger than modern day New York, because Romans built a kind like of apartament tall 4 or 5 floors named "insula". The insulae were the houses for plebians. According to historical sources during the reign of Septimius Severus, there were more than 46000 insulae. Considering that an insula had a max capacity of 40 people, and even if I multiply the total number of insulae for the median number of its max capacity (20 people), I obtain a result of 920.000 people. If you are interested there is the channel of Maiorianus who talks about it in the video: "how did ancient rome have a population density higher than manhattan?"

[@AdistuffRBX]

@@giovluccarbone4720 But is that for the city of rome?, What was considered the city or rome back then? Or the entirety of the Roman Empire or Roman peninsula

[@giovluccarbone4720]

@@AdistuffRBX only the city of Rome. The Roman Empire had a population at least of 50 million, meanwhile the population of Italian peninsula was between 5 and 10 million

[@AyutaTYujin]

THANKS YOU FOR NEW VERSION !!!

[@metametodo]

It's so full of data (well) displayed that you can cross data and really get a gist of a lot of processes happening. This kind of thing is a gold mine to me, marvellous. For example, at the end having a detailed look at the largests' numbers you can see cities that the growth has reached a plateau like New York, simultaneous to explosions of growth associated to socioeconomic progress in Tokyo, and when it's Tokyo that reaches its plateau, you spot developing cities inheriting the role of rapid growth, New Delhi, Dhaka. I really don't have a good grasp at how I live in the 4th largest city on the planet, São Paulo. It surprises me how rare this kind of dense society actually is in the world. There are lots to learn.

[@genesdelsur-mapping2744]

Great video as always, extreme nitpicking though: what about Tenochtitlan? At least in Spanish it is often said it was one of the most populated cities in the world and had more population than London at the moment of the conquest of Mexico

[@OnionChoppingNinja]

Probably due to the lack of accurate census records

[@OllieBye]

It can be seen on the map in the 1400s, but the idea that it was one of the largest cities in the world may be an exaggeration. London had fewer than 100k at that time.

[@Pirigotiko_05]

@@OllieBye And Tenochtitlan had 200k

[@daniellima3641]

@@OllieBye the city had about 200k to 300k at the time.

[@CarLosSanCas]

@@OllieBye some sources say it may have had a population of more than 300k at its peak. Most estimates place it well above 200k. In his letters, Cortes mentions it was larger than Seville

[@joshuawalton3347]

I would love to see a video similar to the Rise of the Frenxh Royal Domain video but in Britain. I know that there are alot of sources detailing the small fiefdoms held by Petty nobles and Knights aswell as the large Earldoms and Lordships held by various Norman Nobles. Obviously the Domesday Book is a great reference for that although it's obviously only detailing the territoires held just before the death of William of Normandy. But even just documenting the land grants between the years 1067-1087 would be extremely interesting!

[@iam_darthk]

Awesome video! One small thing--I looked up Caracol out of curiosity and apparently it was in what's now Belize, not Mexico.

[@dantealmarazrojas6497]

As I mexican who has visited Caracol, I'm 100% Caracol is located in Belize

[@Itzeldirem]

@@dantealmarazrojas6497 It is now Belize that that was part of the same common area which is now Mexico.

[@dwarasamudra8889]

Thanks !! This is the most accurate video so far !!! However, I have sources that would mean other Indian cities like Murshidabad, Fatehpur Sikri, Thanjavur, Vijayapura, Ahmedabad, Srirangapatna etc should also feature in this list

[@Adam-xf3ko]

I'm glad this uses metro areas too, gives a much better look at the reality of the cities in recent years.

[@user-ro5dd8lp4u]

This is amazing! Just wondering if there is anyway to see this with like a slider, so I can check into a point in history (like 1320AC)?

[@jaichind]

You did miss fall of Chang'an in 756 as part of the An Lushan Rebellion. It is almost certain the population of Chang'an would have fell by a bunch in 756.

[@yipengguo2732]

You are right, that is the saddest moment for Chinese. Think of how Americans will react if New York City falls.

[@SandeepMukkamala]

Impressive work. 🌞Mild suggestion - Middle East & North Africa (MENA) for the regional term.

[@Itzeldirem]

North Africa was part of the Roman Empire while the middle east wasn't.

[@SandeepMukkamala]

​@@ItzeldiremCarthage & Alexandria (300 BCE) weren't part of the Roman Empire and are in (North) Africa. Moreover, parts of the "middle east" (modern day Syria, Israel, Turkey etc) were part of the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, your comment doesn't make much sense to me. In fact, we should stop using Middle East as a geographical term, to be precise it is West Asia, just as for example China is in East Asia, India is in South Asia, or Thailand in SE Asia.

[@mlheath3]

Wow that is amazing. Where do you derive your data sets?

[@qbcommando9394]

Didn't Rome reach 1 million abitant in ancient times?

[@sami3566]

Nope

[@Novusod]

It is one of the biggest errors in this video. Rome had an estimated population of 800k to 1.2 million for about four and half centuries between 50BC and 400AD. Then it rapidly declined after that.

[@SwordQuake2]

Would have been cool to add some brief explanation on why the big reductions happened.

[@DJTOM_]

Hi quick question, i always hear about how Rome was the first city to 1 million people yet in this video i see it peaked at around 500k, any clarification would be much appreciated!

[@WorkWithoutHuman]

Rome is young city, rounded

[@XGD5layer]

​@@WorkWithoutHuman all cities in the top 10 are younger than Rome

[@dp3154]

I hope you follow up with a series that visualizes cities on a continent by continent/ regional basis.

[@riceright39]

good work,beatiful to see,and fun

[@pabloruiz8597]

Three huge surprises--that Tikal and Caracol were such huge cities by 900 BCE, making Mesoamerican cities pretty big for almost 2,000 years in comparison to Old World cities. What about El Mirador? That settlement dwarfed the likes of Tikal and Caracol by 200 BCE, with about a 200K population and a pyramid that was one of the highest structures in the world for a while (you showed it in an earlier video about highest structures). Surprised El Mirador wasn't on there. Second, that Baghdad was the first city to reach 1 million. Some history demographers have posited that Alexandria, Rome and Chang'an achieved the coveted 1 million populace before Baghdad. Third, that Dhaka, largest city of Bangladesh, for a few decades between 1680 and 1720 was the largest city in the world. Dhaka was a major trading hub during Mughal times, but it was truly that huge, its population eclipsing the likes of contemporary Beijing, Edo, London and Paris?

[@ShubhamMishrabro]

Dhaka at its peak contributed to 50 percent of Mughal economy so yeah it was definitely big

[@magtovi]

The city is not called Caracol, is called Calakmul.

[@anshul6168]

@@ShubhamMishrabro At that time Mughal Empire was very weak and small, only Nawab of Bengal chose to pay taxes to Mughals. Rest Hindu Rulers didn't, that's why.

[@genovayork2468]

​@@anshul6168 No, Bengal formed in 1717.

[@anshul6168]

@@genovayork2468 Bengal was stronghold of Mughals compared to other areas

[@denoseyhan98]

A major constant throughout the years was always Constantinople / Istanbul, my city ❤️ you can find a historical landmark dating to different centuries from all the different civilizations that lived in it

[@alexheloo]

Well, the Greeks were always very important for the human history and Constantinople and Athens are a clear example of that.

[@berataltunok6533]

@@alexheloo well, greeks was not handle the city in history. only rome and east rome (which is not greek) handle it. now go away 500 year of slavery guy.

[@alexheloo]

@@berataltunok6533 Yeah, you should thanks to Persians, Greeks and Romans if you have a culture now. Thank them because otherwise you would still living in the steps of Eurasia 🤣

[@user-hf1wf1ho7p]

@@alexheloo his name is arabic, his script is latin, his architecture is arab or greek, and yet he is proud to be a turk

[@deanticocombar7529]

​@@user-hf1wf1ho7pwho is saying look the Russian who itself is Greek inspired script in inspired by Greeks . Government is inspired by mongols

[@otomackena7610]

Awesome work Ollie. what's your next project?

[@MrPastaTube1]

Really puts things into perspective.

[@eclipse4995]

5:02 It is said that Kyoto came to be called Kyoto after the 12th century. The official name is Heian-kyo. For generations, the word "kyo" has been used for the capital in Japan. "kyo" means the capital. For example, Heijo-kyo (710-740, 745-784), Nagaoka-kyo (784-794), and now Tokyo (1868-) follow that rule. Not only "kyo" but also "kyoto" was a general noun meaning the capital. "Kyoto" became a proper noun because it was the capital for a long time (794-1180, 1180-1868). In this video, if you use Edo and Tokyo properly, I think it is more natural to use Heian-kyo and Kyoto properly.

[@Shiromochimochi]

Heian-kyo was a city in Kyoto, Japan, and was called Kyoto by the people of the time in the late Heian period. So even the notation in this video is correct. During the Edo period, Edo was not called Tokyo. After the Edo shogunate ended, the samurai were gone, and the Tenno moved to Edo, Edo was called Tokyo.

[@genovayork2468]

​@@Shiromochimochi It doesn't matter how it was called informally. Its name was Heian.

[@Deathmastertx]

The music reminds me of that old Pandemic II flash game.

[@highwayempire1]

Love love love the visuals.

[@frankvr1118]

Great video

[@Scarachus]

Wasn't Angkor estimated to have a population of almost a million at its peak? Same with Ayutthaya

[@grinningtaverngaming395]

Tenochtitlán: Am I a joke to you? I rivalled Paris when Cortez arrived!

[@SnapplyPie]

Could you do a part 3 to your 30 Years War series from a year ago?

[@_MrOtto]

Very great video. My only problem with it is: before the fall of western rome, the city of rome (im pretty sure) had 1 million, but quickly fell to 50 thousand or 25 thousand.

[@seychelles2]

maybe might want to go count people just go to other star and look at earth you will be abloe to count people in rome i think there are at least 20k people

[@_MrOtto]

@@seychelles2 huh?

[@flimmerfox7160]

The video looks amazing and I like the music. Unfortunately the numbers are wrong. Its the difference in how different people count the residents of a city. There are roughly three main ways of counting (There are even more - but I wanted to keep it simple). Only city core, agglomeration and metropolis area A few examples: 1900 Paris - The video only shows Agglomeration: 3.3, Metropolos: est. 3.4, City core: 2.7 1920 Berlin - The video only shows city core: 3.7, Agglomeration: est 3.9, Metropolis: est 6.6 2021 Tokyo - The video only shows metropolis: 37.3, Agglomeration: ???, City core: 9.6

[@lividboo6472]

Dhaka still in the top 10 till this day Also brilliant work ollie Bye :D

[@georgewashington5746]

You did show many city’s but beautiful vid

[@aaakenway2416]

Hi Ollie, I just wanted to say that your stats for Jiankang seems a little wrong in the 5th century as they recorded over 200k households before Sui dynasty's razing of the city.

[@benzi..5ucl..]

7:34 Dhaka 😍

[@WORLD8NSH5KNIGHT1]

Great Video. I imagine a lot of work went into it, and I like the layout. Two points though - the figures refer to the Metropolitan Areas going well beyond the city proper. Tokyo Bay for example includes the cities of Yokohama, Chiba and Kawasaki alongside the 23 wards of Tokyo itself. Also 'New Delhi' is a relatively small city at the core of the Indian Capital Territory - about 400,000 people. Delhi is the much larger city surrounding it.

[@alexanderplatypus3664]

Exactly. To a degree this depends on how you define a given place in terms of a single "city" or "satellite towns" etc

[@Snoflakes_1]

I'd like to know what numbers you used for counting city population. I love largest cities quizzes, but I've never had the top 7 you ended up with before...

[@EldaMengisto]

Great job on this video! It's impressive to see how changes in political climate impact which major cities blossom over time; apparently the Indian subcontinent and SE Asia had some large cities a millennium ago!

[@byron-ih2ge]

china and india have always been the centre of civilizations

[@byron-ih2ge]

even those huge prosperous kingdoms formed in south east were indianised kingdoms

[@peterrogers870]

When i was in Guatemala, a arqueologist working over there told me that the newly discovered mayan city El Mirador had up to 1 million inhabitants at his peak around 200BC -200AC. I dontknow if thats true, but new discoveries at least show that the mayan cities were much bigger than we thought them to be, but its not sure how big

[@hallooos7585]

Since when did a city have a gender?

[@stsk1061]

The Mayan region was extremely densely populated, but I don't think the cities grew that large. That was most likely due to limitations in transport; there were no rivers, no draft animals and no wheeled vehicles. Everything was carried on the backs of porters.

[@peterrogers870]

lul you are right, bad english skills haha

[@santikiller22]

@@hallooos7585 since It gets named?

[@lucaswagner1933]

​@@hallooos7585 Any word in spanish or portuguese languages has a gender. That includes cities.

[@novalux4452]

Good video,but Caracol it's a former Maya city located in Belize,not México.

[@Itzeldirem]

Mayan civilization still spans both coutnries.

[@santikiller22]

@@Itzeldirem but the video displays the CURRENT countries, not ancient ones, so still wrong.

[@roberttaylor667]

I noticed that too. Should be Belize. I have been to Caracol and did not realize how big it was.

[@lucasharvey8990]

Thanks for the video! I didn't know that for a time, New York City was the biggest city in the world!

[@mustafafownz4482]

5:02 Rip Iraq 😔

[@user-uj2tk2tv3z]

6:53 even Indians have no idea about Gauda This city was not only large but extremely well planned and rich European travellers were highly impressed by this ciry and praised for its richness

[@user-io7sh7nx7c]

Even Kalyani in 5:29, it was the city that held hegemony of the Deccan Plateau for around 200 years under Chalukyas and Kalachuris and was a center of learning that gave refuge to scholars like Bilhana, Emperor Someshwara III and Vijnaneshwara, also brought forth the new vesara style of architecture and Virashaiva bhakti movement.

[@user-uj2tk2tv3z]

@@user-io7sh7nx7c nice

[@carlosdumbratzen6332]

On what studies are the Rome and Alexandria numbers based? Also Syracuse shouldnt be on the List. The city was never as populated as some older studies made it out to be (unless I missremember some stuff)

[@Shaunt1]

Good video.👍

[@qKitti]

9:37 im glad Toronto made it onto the final map :) This was an amazing video!

[@bigfish3846]

That’s Chicago, Toronto is on Lake Ontario not Lake Michigan and the Toronto metropolitan area was never bigger than Chicago metropolitan area

[@qKitti]

@@bigfish3846 I'm not talking about that. Look above New York's bubble, there is a smaller bubble that appears in 2005 a bit after Toronto's amalgamation with the surrounding cities. You can even see Montreal in 1940-1950, before the cities shrunk and Montreal hasn't been on the map since

[@bigfish3846]

@@qKitti oh sorry I just didn’t see that

[@qKitti]

@@bigfish3846 its ok lol

[@ferminalit3590]

Ankara as well

[@andyspark5192]

It would be interesting to see this with overlay of migrations, pandemics and wars.

[@anoon-]

It's crazy to see that these old cities still stand in some cases.

[@seychelles2]

yeah dude its so crazy why wont cities just like vanish in so fresh humans can build in it

[@elizerpreligera467]

Just to note @Ollie Bye, Manila is not at East Asia, it belongs to Southeast Asia. That's all. I like how you researched the entire thing about the cities

[@greasycheese1957]

me when he changes the minimum requirement to 5mil as sydney hits 1mil so he doesnt have to add an australia category

[@pedrofortunatolopes7602]

A maior cidade de cada tempo: 3000 BCE-2501 BCE:Uruk-Middle East-Iraq 2500 BCE-2251 BCE:Lagash-Middle East-Iraq 2250 BCE-2001 BCE:Girsu-Middle East-Iraq 2000 BCE-1751 BCE:Isin-Middle East-Iraq 1750 BCE-1251 BCE:Babylon-Middle East-Iraq 1250 BCE-1001 BCE:Pi-Ramesses-Middle East-Egypt 1000 BCE-601 BCE:Thebes-Middle East-Egypt 600 BCE-301 BCE:Babylon-Middle East-Iraq 300 BCE-201 BCE:Carthage-Middle East-Tunisia 200 BCE-270 CE:Alexandria-Middle East-Egypt 271 CE-351 CE:Rome-Europe-Italy 352 CE-501 CE:Constantinople-Europe-Turkey 502 CE-641 CE:Ctesiphon-Middle East-Iraq 642 CE-644 CE:Constantinople-Europe-Turkey 645 CE-795 CE:Chang'an-East Asia-China 796 CE-963 CE:Baghdad-Middle East-Iraq 964 CE-975 CE:Constantinople-Europe-Turkey 976 CE-984 CE:Córdoba-Europe-Spain 985 CE-1144 CE:Bian-East Asia-China 1145 CE-1199 CE:Constantinople-Europe-Turkey 1200 CE-1275 CE:Lin'an-East Asia-China 1276 CE-1278 CE:Cairo-Middle East-Egypt 1279 CE-1315 CE:Hangzhou-East Asia-China 1316 CE-1380 CE:Cairo-Middle East-Egypt 1381 CE-1394 CE:Vijayanagara-South and Southeast Asia-India 1395 CE-1426 CE:Nanjing-East Asia-China 1427 CE-1441 CE:Vijayanagara-South and Southeast Asia-India 1442 CE-1612 CE:Beijing-East Asia-China 1613 CE-1678 CE:Constatinople-Europe-Turkey 1679 CE-1720 CE:Dhaka-South and Southeast Asia-Bangladesh 1721 CE-1826 CE:Beijing-East Asia-China 1827 CE-1918 CE:London-Europe-Uk 1919 CE-1954 CE:New York-America and Pacific-United States 1955 CE-Atualmente:Tokyo-East Asia-Japan Regions: Middle East:13× East Asia:8× Europe:8× South and Southeast Asia:3× America and Pacific:1× Africa:0× Top 7(2021): 1-Tokyo-East Asia-Japan 2-New Delhi-South and Southeast Asia-India 3-Shanghai-East Asia-China 4-São Paulo-America and Pacific-Brazil 5-Mexico City-America and Pacific-Mexico 6-Dhaka-South and Southeast Asia-Bangladesh 7-Beijing-East Asia-China

[@ajmiyessine3837]

TUNISIA AND EGYPT ARE IN AFRICA -_-

[@arta.xshaca]

@@ajmiyessine3837 nope

[@ajmiyessine3837]

@@arta.xshaca ?? Tunisia and egypt are located in north africa are you drunk?

[@ajmiyessine3837]

@@yousifboti Actually no Carthaginians were a mix between local berbers and people from tyre And saying Carthage was middle eastern is like saying the USA is europeen.

[@ajmiyessine3837]

@@yousifboti Actually no People from carthage are called Carthaginians with a Phoenician ancestry not Phoenicians

[@user-yb7hm8rq3d]

Is this video an open resource? Can I use it in some academic work?

[@OllieBye]

Yes, feel free. You can find the source data here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13O3IxKSM2VYzAhGA1y206_Pjk6_65syvXZ4O8UQHOew/edit#gid=947955792

[@lorenzodavidsartormaurino413]

The constant presence of mesoamerican cities in the rakning truly amazes. Such underrated history.

[@hueytlahtoani1304]

I agree. Maybe the most underrated place in the world, together with the Andes.

[@stranger1629]

it shows Georgian golden age and fall of Tbilisi very well, you can actually see reign of king tamar (women) and reconquista of david IV

[@giorgijioshvili9713]

tbilisi had 100k people, bruh Mongol invasion's were the worst

[@thruthewormhole]

4:27 Baghdad: *GAS GAS GAS! TIME TO STEP ON THE GAS!*